CVS Camera Mods

My CVS USB connector

I decided I wanted a micro usb connector found in most digital cameras, so I made a small board for a micro usb connector that can be solder onto the existing pads of the camera board. The micro usb connector can be picked up at Digikey.com part number WM17115-ND $2.19

If anyone is interested in these bare boards, I can sell them for $3 each. Just send $3 with a self addressed stamped envelope to:

Some more details, I filed the back edge of the board with a file to get a more flush look with the camera enclosure. It presents a cleaner final appearance but not needed. For alignment, you can actually look down the through holes and see the camera board contacts that you will be filling with solder.

Those of you who have the Castle Creations PHX-Link already have the cable that plugs into this connector.

If you have more camera mods, please post them. Would like to see what others have done with this camera.

I have a second camera that I have done some intensive hacks on. I will be posting more on this later. I will also show how to install it on the plane using onboard power.

I have a second camera that I have done some intensive hacks on. I will be posting more on this later. I will also show how to install it on the plane using onboard power.

Excellent!

I'm using a 5-in-1 eDVR right now, which works pretty well. But I'll tell you, if I could get my CVS cam stripped down to board and wires, and then not have to lug up a pair of AA batteries, I'd never fly without it!

I'm using a 5-in-1 eDVR right now, which works pretty well. But I'll tell you, if I could get my CVS cam stripped down to board and wires, and then not have to lug up a pair of AA batteries, I'd never fly without it!

I did that with mine and even made a camera mount using a old aptek camera for my slow stick.

Images

I'm actually a bit more interested, though, in instructions on stripping the camera down and powering it from a receiver. Anybody seen a thread on that?

ratb, all you have to do is solder to the metal contacts inside the batt compartment of the cam. To make it easier, remove the small circuit board which has the batt contacts mounted to it, first. Just pop off the battery cover and remove the four rear screws (hidden under the white label which goes around the display on the backside), then pop off the rear half of the cover. Remove the two screws near the bottom of the cam board and carefully lift the cam board straight up and off of the four pin battery contact "socket". Be very careful with this step because it's easy to damage (bend) the four battery contact pins. After that, remove the little piece of PCB which the contacts are mounted to. For the wiring, either use a servo lead, or if you're desperate (like I was), you can even use the 2-pin header connector wires from an old PC power supply. Either works great, but if you decide to use a servo lead, be sure to either completely remove the signal wire, or at least clip it short so that you don't short out the circuit (it doesn't get soldered to anything). Pay attention to the polarity of each contact, then solder each wire on (Red to POS, Black or Brown [JR servo lead wires have a Brown wire instead of Black for -] to NEG) near the top so that when you put it all back together, the cam case can still close flush without putting any pressure on the wires. Remove the plastic servo lead connector from the end which will plug into the receiver (use a tiny flathead screwdriver - eyeglass screwdrivers work great for this), by carefully prying up on the tiny plastic retaining pins and pulling the wire ends free.

Pass them through the rectangular hole in the cam housing, just left of the dark gray plastic piece which locks the battery cover in place. You will also need to snip off the corresponding tab from the battery cover itself and file a small groove just large enough to pass the wires through without snagging or scraping. Once you've done that, push the plastic connector retaining pins down firmly, then slide the ends of the wires back in until you hear the 'click' sound of them locking back in place. Give the wire a firm, yet gentle tug to ensure that the wires are firmly locked in and will not pull free at a later time.

Reassemble the cam (exact reverse of removal), snap the battery cover back in place and plug it into your receiver. Power on your radio and then your receiver, and turn the CVS cam on with the power button (as you normally do). Hit Record and make sure everything's working perfectly.

Please note: others have pointed out that this method relies on the 3V input (2 AA's), and as such is incapable of handling 5V from the receiver. However, all of my CVS cam footage has been recorded using this exact same setup. Use at your own risk.

I'll post some pics of it all later on if you want, to help visualize exactly what I'm describing.

There is a better method to what ebayrcer had just described. You can use 5volts, just tap it onto the usb connections. That is normally 5volts, this is what I will be doing. I still need to look into the current draw, since it might be too much for the esc to power, but a UBEC should work fine. I'll start posting pics and stuff once I have a camera flying around.

My Pure Digital (cvs) camera mounted to Slow Stick

Hello all.

Thought I'd post some pics of my modified PD camera mounted to a Slow Stick. I basically cut the battery portion of the camera off and power it with 3 nmh rechargable batts in a Radio Shack holder. That gives me 3.6v nomial. Actually the voltage is about 4.2 on fully charged batteries. Everything works good so far. My videos leave something to be desired but I'll get better with practice.

The mounting is pretty basic, some packing foam and some rubberbands. Simple, cheap and it works okay.

About camera draw. I read on some forum, can't remember where, that the camcorder draws about 500mah when recording.

Yeah, I'm still using the original settings. It has 20min of video space. The clarity of my vids are okay. I wish I could say the same about quality. It's been a bit windy around here and the old Slow Stick bounces around pretty good. I attached an edited down version of my second video, see for yourself. It's a little long and not alot to see.